Ohioans challenge FirstEnergy's drop on discounts

Published: May 13, 2010 4:05AM

By MARC KOVACDix CommunicationsCOLUMBUS " Residents from northeastern Ohio protested outside the Statehouse Wednesday against FirstEnergy and its earlier elimination of rate discounts on their all-electric homes.About 50 people from Lorain, Cuyahoga, Geauga and other counties held signs along a busy street in downtown Columbus, then met with lawmakers and consumer advocates before heading back to Akron to protest outside FirstEnergy's offices."My bills in the winter time went up by $200 a month," said Sue Stiegerwald, a Lake County resident who was among the protesters. "... Our bill went up solely because FirstEnergy has reneged on a promise that they made, which is to offer us discounted rates for equipping our house with electric furnaces, electric baseboard heating. And they basically have pulled that discount because they are able to sell the electricity on the grid for more money. ..."They basically don't need us anymore, so, therefore, they took away our discount."Participants want FirstEnergy to reinstate discounts on their homes permanently with the costs taken from shareholder profits and not placed on other customers' bills.They also want refunds for they money they paid during the past heating season."People have paid thousands of dollars in overcharges since May of '09," Steigerwald said.The discounts had been in effect for more than 30 years and provided an incentive for customers to install electric water and space heaters in their homes, providing an outlet for FirstEnergy's unused electric capacity during winter months.But last year, FirstEnergy received approval from PUCO for plans to consolidate its 32 different residential rates into a single one, eliminating the all-electric discount in the process.Most customers did not see increased bills, but all-electric customers began noticing the changes during the winter heating season. Some reported increases of 40 percent to 60 percent or more.The higher bills caused a public outcry and prompted Gov. Ted Strickland to call for the discounts to be reinstated.FirstEnergy submitted plans earlier this year in response to customers' concerns, proposing to phase out the discount over a longer period and capping the total increase for most all-electric customers' bills at 20 percent.But in March, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ordered FirstEnergy to return all-electric customers to rates in effect in December of 2008.Regulators are working with the company to develop new rates for those customers to prevent the large increases in bills some have experienced in recent months while still enabling FirstEnergy to recoup its costs to provide electricity.FirstEnergy spokeswoman Ellen Raines said the company is cooperating with regulators to find a solution."We have been at the table since we first became aware that there was an issue," she said. "... We're continuing to participate in that process and are committed to staying at the table until it's resolved."Raines added that the company was committed to treating all of its customers fairly in the process."The company has been very proactive in working to address this situation since we became aware that we have customers that were experiencing these rate increases or large changes in their bills."n Marc Kovac is the Dix capital bureau chief. E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.